Saturday, November 28, 2015

The short answer is no, the Donald is NOT a fascist the way one would understand it.
The long answer is that the Donald really has no clue as to what he believes and says and promotes whatever comes to his mind with little if any thought.If one looks at this link at Wikipedia, the one thing that the Donald seems firm on is nationalism. Otherwise, I do not see a candidate fitting the fascist label.
The Donald is more like that relative that says what he or she thinks and doesn't really care how or what comes out.
If one really does back to his speech announcing his quest for the GOP nomination, it was all off the cuff. No notes. Hence his comments about Mexico sending all their criminals here to the United States. And it has gone downhill from there.
Here is what really gets my goat.
Many of the Trumpettes love to compare the Donald to the Great Man himself, Ronald Reagan.
There is absolutely no comparison, period.
OK, take it back.
The only comparison is that both did take it to the GOP establishment.
But here is the difference.
Ronald Reagan was an actual thinker, despite what the left says about him. It is known that Mr. Reagan read extensively, talked to many people and came to the conservative idea over a period of time. Mr. Reagan got into elective politics almost by accident. Everyone today knows that Mr. Reagan gave a last-ditch awesome speech for the 1964 GOP presidential nominee, Sen. Barry M. Goldwater (R-Ariz). It is known simply as The Speech. Two years later, a group of conservative businessmen talked the retired actor into running for governor of California. And the rest is history.
But there is an in between history that a lot of people do not know about.
After losing the 1976 GOP presidential nomination to the incumbent president, Gerald R. Ford, Mr. Reagan became a radio commentator and as archives now public show, Mr. Reagan did his own research and wrote out the five-minute commentaries that kept him in the public eye.
My question is what does the Donald actually believe? Whatever seems to be attractive to his core supporters.
And the supporters are not bad people, despite my usage of the phrase Trumpette. Most are people that are frustrated with politics in general and the GOP establishment in particular. Many feel that GOP congressional leadership has acted impotently regarding the Dear Leader, President Obama. I agree with that. But I listen very carefully to the Donald and do not see how he would have any relationship with congress be it a Democrat or Republican one.
The bottom line to me about Donald Trump is that whatever he believes, and it is not fascism, it is certainly not conservative. And that disqualifies him to me.

"If we truly care about this - if we;re going to offer up our thoughts and prayers again, for God knows how many times, with a truly clean conscience - then we have to do something about the easy accessibility of weapons of war on our streets to people who have no business wielding them. Period. Enough is enough."

SIGH!
The reaction, and believe me it is a reaction, is to simply push back and not do the obvious.
That would be to tell the pro-abortion, gun control zealots to wait until all the facts are in before jumping the gun, so to speak, and politicizing an ongoing situation. There is time for that.
Then there is social media and both sides using it to push the agenda.
I have read from right-leaning sites that the suspect is not registered as a Republican and in fact identifies himself as a woman.
I already gave examples from left-leaning sites.
A novel idea is to wait for investigators to talk to the suspect. Once there is ample time for questioning, more than likely the reason will emerge. Until that takes place, it is not worth our time to speculate as to the reason(s) why the event happened.
News events is a tricky business as responsible outlets will tell you. So much of what is out there in an ongoing story turns out to be false or over-reported and dilutes the actual facts.
The fact is that not every story has a political angle to it. This may turn out to be just that. But don't let possible facts get in the way.

Thursday, November 26, 2015

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all!We do have a lot to be thankful for and this is a day to remember just what all the things in our lives we should be thankful about.
The following is the Thanksgiving proclamation from President Abraham Lincoln at the height of the Civil War, or if you prefer, War Between The States. Please read an ponder the words as you enjoy time with family and friends, a real blessing.

Washington, D.C.October 3, 1863

By the President of the United States of America.

A Proclamation.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the Eighty-eighth.

Monday, November 23, 2015

This past Saturday, Democrats had a substantive win in the Louisiana governor's race with their candidate, Jack Bel Edwards defeating Republican U. S. Senator David Vitter by a healthy 10 point margin.
Needless to say this made the Dems happy and the thought that maybe they are turning the corner in the South and Republicans should be weary of these results.
I agree with the thought that yes, it should be of concern for Republicans. It was not helpful to run a candidate like Sen. Vitter, a man with a lot of baggage. Mostly it is his role in a sex scandal in 2007. While he was able to win reelection, another bit of baggage was his frosty relationship with the current governor and former GOP presidential candidate, Bobby Jindal. That is noted here in this excellent analysis by Taylor Millard. In fact, their dissonance goes back to the 2007 prostitute scandal and then gubernatorial candidate Jindal not offering support and or forgiveness to Sen. Vitter. In fact, Mr. Millard gives us this from a local political blog:

The main source for voter hatred of Vitter, the 15-year-old extramarital behavior which came to light in 2007, didn't defeat him then. But the constant drumbeat of "hookers, hookers, hookers" an "hypocrite, hypocrite, hypocrite" in this election created and insurmountable gender gap and wiped out his chances of getting the job he always wanted.

In other words, his behavior, still even in a horribly corrupt state as is Louisiana, came to bite him in the butt when it counted.
But here's an odd thing.
It did not go down ticket to the race for Lt. governor as the Republican candidate, Billy Nungesser, defeated the Democrat candidate, Melvin Holder, by about the same margins as Mr. Bel Edwards defeated Sen. Vitter.

Also, the Democrat attorney general lost to the Republican challenger. And the state legislature is one of the most solidly Republican in the South.
There is no question that some voters did vote against Sen. Vitter to also vote against Gov. Jindal. Some voters probably did not like that fact that he was running for president and his statewide popularity numbers were in the 30s. So who knows if Gov Jindal did more to help Sen. Vitter would it have helped or hurt more?
What is clear is that this is more of a blip for Democrats than a preview of 2016. In fact this was much more of a GOP year than not. Look at Kentucky as a Tea Party Republican, Matt Bevin, won the governor's mansion. Look at Virginia as the GOP kept control of the senate and the state legislature.
In about two months, we will see what all of this means for the Republicans as caucus-goers in Iowa and voters in New Hampshire will set the pace and if it is going to be a Republican year all the way around.

Monday, November 16, 2015

Oh I know, you are thinking that I am totally heartless and do not care what happened this past Friday night in the capital of France, Paris.
That is the furthest from the truth.
One of the reasons that I write this blog in the first place is to point out that we are in a real war, the War Against Islamofacist Terror, as I have coined it.
What happened in Paris was an extension of this war.
The photo below is the inside of the Bataclan nighclub that was seized and where the height of the carnage occurred. An American, Nohemi Gonzalez, a student at California State University, Long Beach, was among one of the dead. The event was a concert being performed by the American rock band, The Eagles of Death Metal.

This is what the Islamic State does on a constant basis. This is but a death cult.
The following is what I believe for myself and not intended to offend for the sake of offending people. Everyone has a reason for what they do or don't do. This is why I won't.
I won't change my profile photo to the French flag because I find it a cheap way to show support. To me, I will support France in all that it does to fight back against the evil Islamic State. That includes calling the enemy what it is.RADICALIslam. It is not the whole religion. It is a low percentage but very high numbers that support a radical ideology that is akin to the seventh century that they would like to return.
I won't change my photo profile because I still have my remembrance of 9/11/01 when RADICAL Islamic savages brought the war here to the United States. Make no mistake, this is a world-wide war. These RADICAL Islamics want their brand of "pure" seventh-century Islam to be around the world.
To me, changing a photo to show solidarity means I will show solidarity for what needs to be done. As the French president, Francois Hollande, said it was an act of war and that the French response would be pitiless. And France has already shown that it will take the fight right to the Islamic State and bombed the de facto capital of the Islamic State, Raqqa. I expect more of this. Too many that have changed their photo will not support the response that is needed for what has been declared an act of war.
No, I will keep my profile photo to show my remembrance of 9/11 as support for France and all that they will have to do to respond and maybe nudge us timid, sleeping Americans back to real action.
Vive La France! Vive La Amerique!

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

OK, I make no apologies to liking Starbucks coffee and that I am not a boycotter.
So there is a new kerfuffle about the current Starbucks Christmas/Holiday cups as pictured below.

OK, the cup is all red, a color very connected with the Christmas/Holiday season. No problem. Plain Red with the Starbucks' logo.
Over the last several years, this is what a Starbucks Christmas/Holiday cup looked like.

See the difference?
Recently, a Christian vlogger made the lack of any Christmas reference on the 2015 Christmas cup an issue.
Joshua Feuerstein recently noticed the change and sent out a viral You Tube video suggesting that people who buy drinks beyond a simple coffee should respond when their name is asked to answer Merry Christmas.

Of course if everyone in any given Starbucks says Merry Christmas is their name, well what a back up that will be.
But seriously, I will commend Starbucks for the fact that they refer to the special coffee blend at this time of year as Christmas blend. Almost all of their competitors refer to the season special coffee blend as Holiday blend. And the cup is still red, folks.
To my knowledge, the Christmas blend is still such.
But the real issue, and it is an issue, seems to be lost on everyone.
The disingenuous nature of corporate America at this time of year.
This is the one holiday, Christmas, that is not referred to as such. Suddenly, there is a generic holiday and that is what it is called.
Holiday.
Why I recently received a "Holiday" gift guide from a clothing company I like.
My question is, what "Holiday"?!Maybe Veteran's Day. Thanksgiving. I don't know. Maybe it was Halloween since I received the gift guide the week before Halloween.
We all know that the holiday in reference is Christmas. The forces that are forcing corporate America to not use the C-word in advertising and discouraging people from wishing others specifically a Merry Christmas know. Corporate America knows it. The American people know it.
Yet every year we do this Kabuki theatre dance to avoid offending some people."OH MY GOD! YOU WISHED ME A MERRY CHRISTMAS! HOW DARE YOU! DON'T YOU KNOW I MAYBE NON-CHRISTIAN?! I MIGHT BE JEWISH?! MUSLIM?! BUDDHIST?! AND HOW DARE YOU CALL THIS SALE A CHRISTMAS SALE! I WILL NEVER STEP FOOT IN THIS ESTABLISHMENT AGAIN!" How many people really get so worked up over the Christmas season that we, as a society, are forced to purge it as much as possible?
The reality is that it is an activist community more than average people that get worked up over such a thing. There is not a viable thought to this Christmas hate other than, well Christmas hate.
Starbucks is in reality a company that has not buckled under the pressure to holidayize Christmas but because people said that Christmas blend coffee would be cool, they did it. The cup is red, I'm fine with it.
As a Christian, I want people to know the real meaning of what we celebrate on December 25 every year. It's not really about corporate America does to guilt us into getting that last gift we forgot about. But the same corporate America can respect the fact that people are shopping for CHRISTMAS gifts from roughly Thanksgiving Day to December 24. That Holiday is Christmas and honesty is better than fraud.
There is a war against Christmas, but in this case Starbucks is not against Christmas and if you want to say your name is Merry Christmas when you get that Peppermint Mocha Latte, mazeltov!

Thursday, November 05, 2015

According to this piece in Politico, I am afraid I have some bad news for the Trumpettes as this is a serious undermining of one of the themes of the Donald J. Trump presidential candidacy.
Now the article does say straight up in the second paragraph that Team Donald started to "build relationships" but that in doing that with gambling mogul, Sheldon Adelson, Team Donald, no the Donald himself, was pretty much asking for money for a possible (at the time) presidential run. The Donald personally made a call to set up a meeting with Mr. Adelson. After all but begging, Mr. Adelson has declined to support the Donald, who pointed out that he lives in heavily-Jewish populated New York and that one of his daughters' married a Jew, and is leaning to Florida Republican senator, Marco Rubio.
Needless to say, the Donald is now beating up on Mr. Adelson.
Coninkidink?!I don't think so.
Then there is the case of Paul Singer, another big money dude like the Donald. The story is similar and the result is that when Mr. Singer announced that he will support Sen. Rubio, the attack Donald came out.
And let us not forget that there was a Super PAC that was supporting the Donald and that the Donald actually went to a fund-raiser before heat was put on the campaign about that issue. Now Team Donald, led by the chief attack dog himself, is disavowing that Super PAC and discouraging any more attempts to form any Super PAC in the name of the Donald.
Then there is the eeeeevvvvviiiiilllll Koch brothers, noted libertarians but supporters of small government Republicans.
There was a big Koch donor confab here is California recently that included five GOP presidential candidates. The aforementioned Sen. Rubio, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (before he dropped out of the race), former Florida governor, Jeb! Bush, Sen, Ted Cruz, and former Hewlett-Packard executive, Carly Fiorina. Some one was not invited. Guess who?!
If you said Donald J. Trump, you would be correct.
And of course his inner attack dog came out on Twitter:

(Koch) is looking for a new puppet after Governor Walker and Jeb Bush cratered. He now likes Marco Rubio - next fail.

Interesting.
After the Donald tries to illicit support, either by name and or money, and does not get it, he unloads on them.
It is possible that the Donald did all of this to say to his Trumpette supporters, see, I really can not be bought!
But why try in the first place?
I am of the nature to believe that in the end, the Donald is no different from any other politician. And make no mistake, he is in the game so at least for a season he is a politician. And politicians seek support from seemingly like minded people.
I can tell you why the Koch brothers would not support the Donald. Because he is too dependent on the government. He is a rent-seeker. He loves him his eminent domain. He sees no problem with asking the politicians for special favors when it suits his purposes. That's not the Koch brothers' agenda.
This is one big blow to a campaign that claims to seek no money from anyone. That this candidate is so rich that he can't be bought.But he can beg for support and cash from his fellow billionaires. And so far is a big failure on both.

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About Me

I am interested in all current events from the conservative perspective. Unlike some that you will read, I prefer to enlighten, not enrage. I hope to educate as well as to make you think. I think that those of us that are conservative in our politics as well as in our everyday lives are the real rebels and trying to effect positive change. And now I am part of the Loyal Opposition to the Age o' Obama. And, once again it will be us-the everyday Americans-that will wake up the nation to the excesses that will be the Obama administration.